


The Tomorrow Children: Dawn of a New Day

by Sir_Salem_Diaz



Category: The Tomorrow Children (Video Game)
Genre: Communism, F/F, Gen, Lesbian, Politics, Post-Apocalypse, Revolution, Russian, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-06-26 16:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19772008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Salem_Diaz/pseuds/Sir_Salem_Diaz
Summary: A hundred years after the near-complete collapse of humanity, a Soviet government is slowly rebuilding the world through the use of science -- and forced, hard labor.A group of young girls in a troubled and weak workforce are reaching a boiling point.Scientific achievements stoke the growing flames of political unrest.The girls must find their own paths while struggling with their environment and their government.Every utopia is a dystopia and every win is a loss.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is still heavily in progress. The title and summary are definitely subject to change as the work continues and I find better ways to describe it overall.  
> The Tomorrow Children was a very important and special game to me and I don't want to see it die completely. This story is a tribute, a shout-out, a hug and kiss, a tearful goodbye, and a tight 'welcome back' hug. I hope you enjoy it.

> ####  “In 1967 the Soviet Union pushed a project to merge all human minds into one global consciousness. Unfortunately, scientists did not foresee the terrible results their experiments would bring about.
> 
> ####  The minds of all mankind were combined and transformed into a strange entity simply known as the “Void,” eradicating most traces of civilization and organic life across the planet. To make matters more grievous, fear accumulating within the Void gave rise to the Izverg—gargantuan beasts threatening to stamp out man’s final remnants.
> 
> ####  And yet, in the face of dire adversity, the human species endured—eventually uncovering a way to reclaim their brethren from the Void. Beings called “projection clones” were created to undertake this rescue operation, and thus rebuild the world from the ashes…” _\- (Sony Playstation “The Tomorrow Children” information page)_
> 
> ####  “But before these projection clones were completed, the work force humanity needed was entirely made up of young, human women. With little thanks and painful endurance, these women performed all the dangerous hard labour they were forced to do. The invention of the clones should have been a celebrated occasion and the saviors the women desperately needed but instead it created a major political disturbance and the beginning of a new chapter in history.”

**NADYA  
** **WORKERS COMMON ROOM**

She straightened her beret in the bathroom mirror. A beaming example of excellence, professionalism, competence is what she prided herself on being and she intended to provide the new workers with a perfect example. The most important part of a first impression is appearance. A crisp uniform and her perfect blonde braid straight down her back. Excellence.  
“Hey! Nadya! Stop playing with your hair! We have to leave soon!”  
She wrinkled her nose and walked out of the bathroom and glared at her comrade, Katia. A broad shouldered, brown-eyed, and ill-mannered annoyance that couldn’t even be bothered to keep her short ponytail neat much less actually wash her boots.  
“I’m not playing with my hair. I’m checking to be sure I have a professional appearance.”  
Katia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay.”  
“Don’t start. It’s way too early for this.” Sonya yawned, sitting on a chair a few feet away.  
Katia shrugged and Nadya shook her head. _There are important things happening today._ Nadya reminded herself. _Katia’s attitude is definitely not one of those things_. She strode up to a group of workers standing near the common room entrance having multiple, overlapping, excited conversations.  
“Come on, come on! Don’t stand around like this! Focus and prepare! You all look like a mess!”  
“Sorry, we couldn’t check for a professional appearance because you were hogging the mirror.” One of the workers snickered.  
“Keep insulting your superior and I will report you to the authorities.”  
“Woooooow, pull the shovel out of your bum.”  
Before Nadya could express her disgust at Katia’s remark, an announcement blared from the speakers.

"ALL WORKERS REPORT FOR DUTY!! RISE AND LABOUR FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!"

The sleeping night shift groaned and the group standing around the door hurried out of the building.  
Nadya smiled at the dull, white light beaming down from the skies on to her beautiful town. The efforts of the night workers were clear as she did a quick scan of her surroundings. A fair amount of resources, an adequate amount of electricity, and a decent amount of food. A handful of people, townsfolk, walk around as they munch their breakfast fruit. Tall guards in crisp uniform patrolled and watched. She followed the workers to a fairly large silver building with a bright gold ball on top surrounded by a swirl of more silver. The Ministry of Labor. The girls lined up at the double doors where a little machine sat between the two and one-by-one the girls would hold out their hands and present their wrists to the machine. The machine beeped when they did, registering each girl.  
Once completed, they all went down to two small, grey buildings full of tools. Pick axes, shovels, chainsaws, flashlights, jetpacks, ladders, umbrellas, backpacks, and more. She made her way to the front of the group and opened the doors. Clearing her throat, she began to address the nine workers.  
“All right, I have my list of assigned jobs for today. If you’d like to change your job, provide a good reason why and I may be able to work something out but there is no guarantee. Okay! You three -- pickaxes. You two take a pickaxe each and a jetpack each. We’re hoping for a large one today! And where’s Darya? DIna? Yes, you two! Shovels today!”  
Ignoring the few grumbles and sighs, she continued to shout out orders. Once everyone else finished, she grabbed a pickaxe and a backpack and swung it over her shoulder.  
“Let’s begin, comrades!”  
They made their way to the bus stop, Nadya’s head held higher than anyone else’s.  
“Hey… When do you think it’ll arrive?”  
“I thought it would be here for the morning but now I don’t know.”  
“Maybe it’ll be here for night shift?”  
Nadya overheard the whispered conversation between two comrades. The “it” they were referring to was the glorious government’s newest invention. A worker made from a top secret science. They were told a small amount of these workers would be distributed among the towns to test their abilities in action. It was heavily implied their town would be one of the lucky ones. _What a privilege! An honor!_ She took a deep breath and suppressed her excitement. Instead, she focused her eyes on the incoming bus.  
“Ugh, it looks like there’s going to be another abundance of wood.” Katia groaned.  
In the distance, a small structure could just be seen coming out of the dark fog surrounding the town. An island. One of the voids many mysterious creations.  
The bus pulled into the stop, hovering just above the ground, and ding-ed. Everyone entered through the open sides and grabbed a handle hanging from the ceiling. No seats were on this bus and no walls beside them. Just in front separating them from the driver and behind them separating them from the cargo bed. A TV in the front wall played encouraging programs. Nadya liked it this way. The government had purposefully and wisely designed this bus to keep workers awake, moving, and strong.   
The bus lifted itself a little higher and began its journey across the void.

  
  


**SONYA  
** **ISLAND OUTSIDE THE TOWN**

Once on the island, everyone immediately ran to action. Sonya swung her pickaxe at the giant wall of green in front of her. The small island held almost no resources beyond trees. She tried to hope the inside of these little green mountains would house something more but her doubt was stronger. Two workers ran past her with arms full of logs. She sighed and swung her pickaxe again. Finally, a hole appeared. She peeked through. Too dark to see what may be inside. She continued working at it until she could get in. Just a pile of coal and nothing more. She stepped inside and began to break it apart.  
Every so often she paused to rub her eyes and yawn. Sleep avoided her again last night and she spent most of her time just listening to the night shift work outside. Two of them got into a nasty argument. A loud smack ended it.  
She placed her pickaxe to the side and took her bag off her shoulders to begin cramming as much coal inside as possible. The bag appeared fairly small but somehow compressed what was shoved inside allowing it to carry a bit more resources than it should naturally be able to. Once the bag was full, she scooped up more coal and hurried out towards the bus stop’s loading bay. She dropped everything off and anything that rolled off the pile immediately came back by being pulled from some sort of magnetic force. She put her bag back on, yawned, and headed back. Another worker worked in the hole now, humming as she picked away at the coal. She picked back up her pickaxe and they worked together.  
“You’re so tired today. Did you get any sleep?”  
“No, not really. I think it was the noise from the night shift.”  
“Hm, I thought they were pretty quiet last night. Sensitive ears, then?”  
_Sensitive ears, non-stop overthinking, worrying…_  
“Probably.”  
The last of the coal was deposited in to the loading bay as the bus pulled in. All the resources piled there were teleported to the bus’s cargo bed.  
Load after load of resources were brought to the bus and the bus hauled them back to town. Long and tiring labour. This continued until a loud rumbling began to shake the ground under the island. Dust rose just above the ground surrounding the island and trembled.  
“ALL RIGHT, LET’S GO!!” Nadya shouted from somewhere on the far side of the island.   
Sonya picked up the last pieces of the metal she had been mining at that time and ran to the bus stop. Every other girl did the same, many of them carrying resources in their arms as well. The ground shook harder.  
Nadya came running to the bus stop still yelling for everyone to gather around and wait for the bus. When everybody was present they stood and waited, stretching and talking and watching the void. The bus could be seen in the distance heading their way.  
A very sudden loud thudding came from somewhere beyond the island. Sonya glanced in the direction of the sound.  
A Bankrotz. A monster resembling a bear walking on its hind legs but towered over everything by fifty feet and with a single curl of silver on its head, falling back like hair. It's face was flat with only two glowing white eyes. Three green strips glowed on its chest between plates of armor. The claws were long and red. It's spine came almost entirely through it's "skin" and acted as a spiked back armor. It dragged its feet and with every step it created tremors she could feel even at this distance. It stomped it's way across the void, eyes staring blankly ahead. Another could be seen not far from its side.  
Sonya turned her attention to the bus ding-ing as it lowered itself to just a few centimeters above the ground. The girls climbed inside, the resources teleported to the cargo bed, and the bus lurched forward.  
  
  


**KATIA  
** **BUS STOP, TOWN CENTER**

When the bus stopped at the town and dropped off all the supplies, Katia got off and grabbed several heavy logs and hoisted them on to her shoulder effortlessly. She hurried them to their designated storage square just at the edge of the far side of town then returned to the giant mess pile of resources and made the same trip several times. Once the logs were finished, she moved on to helping her friends move the coal. Then the metal. The pile got smaller and smaller and as she picked up the last pieces of metal, she looked towards the island to see it burst apart in to dust and descend back into the void as if it never existed. Turning to continue her work she almost bumped into a guard. Peering down at her coldly past his long and boney nose he shook his head.  
“Don’t stand around staring at nothing! Work!”   
She glared at him and swore under her breath as she moved past him.  
Halfway to the storage, a friend fell down behind her. She put down the metal quick and hurried over.  
“Hey, Dina! Are you all right?”  
“Yeah, yeah… Ugh…” The girl groaned. “My legs are so weak these days. My arms can barely lift anymore.”  
Katia helped her up. “You need to report that and get medical attention! It’s dangerous to force yourself to keep working. I’ll take all this to storage.”  
“Thanks, Katia. I’ve already reported this, actually, but the medical told me I’d be fine to work a while longer. I can’t go back until I’m truly unable to work.”  
She brushed off her plain grey work dress and smiled weakly.  
“Ridiculous. Go take a rest. You need it.”  
Katia grabbed up all the resources her friend dropped as well as recollecting her own and brought them to storage. Heading back, she heard the loud, clear, and incredibly annoying voice of Nadya. Ever condescending. Always nagging. _Doesn’t her throat ever hurt from her constant yelling?_  
“What are you going on about now?” She interrupted them.  
Nadya turned to her.  
“It’s rude to interrupt! Especially like that!”  
“You wouldn’t have heard me otherwise over your megaphone voice.”  
Nadya huffed. “I am finished here. I’ve got work to do.” She stormed off.  
“What was all that about?”  
“We’re unhappy with the medical care around here and she was unhappy we were being critical of the government.” A short girl answered.   
“Our medical care is nearly non-existent! How can she be angry at us for being ‘critical’ about something like this?”  
Before anyone could answer, a guard’s fake cough caught their attention. They all quietly dispersed. Katia jogged to the electricity generator where Sonya ran on the treadmill. She waited for her to finish and the crackle of energy to die down before speaking.  
“Almost beat your record there. Any particular reason you’re moving so fast?”  
Sonya wiped the sweat off her forehead and moved her rather short messy hair away from her light brown eyes.  
“Trying to wake myself up. I didn’t sleep very well last night.”  
“Isn’t this the third night now?”  
Sonya nodded. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”  
“Anything you’d like to talk about? We haven’t had a little hang out time in a couple of days.”  
She smiled. Katia couldn’t help but return it. Sonya looked around at everyone working.  
“That would actually be nice. Maybe during lunch? We could sit near the tree…”  
Her words trailed off and her eyes fixated on something. Katia’s gaze followed hers and her eyes widened.  
Everyone else slowly noticed it, too.  
Standing in front of the door to the subway connecting the towns stood an incredibly strange girl looking at her surroundings curiously.  
“Is that…” Katia began to whisper.  
“The Projection Clone?” Sonya finished her thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! So sorry this took forever! Life happens and so does mental illness! I'm all right tho! Just means things take more time! Hope y'all are still excited for part 2! :D

NUMBER 017  
SUBWAY STATION ENTRANCE

Iyevogda. Population of 30 citizens. Nine night workers, twelve day workers. Adequate resources overall. Near all workers have proper bourgeoisie rezidenty paperwork as usual. All basic licenses are in effect. Lead worker is named Nadya.  
Her eyes made a quick sweep of the town she will be calling home from now on. Almost everyone had paused their activities to focus on her. After a long minute a guard blew a whistle.  
“HEY! GET MOVING!” He bellowed.  
Workers snapped back to their jobs and towns folk started to wander again.  
Number 017 jogged around the town, learning where everything was. The shops were near the Ministry of Labor. Tool shed was next to the workers’ housing unit which was a short way away from the domiciles of the towns folk but far enough that it could clearly be seen as something “different” or outside of everyone and everything else. Somehow, even the dull colors and blocky style of the building and the tool shed stood out from every other blocky building and their dull colors. The only signs of real “life” were housed in the town’s resource storage facility. The bright greens of the crystal, the pale reds of the apples next to the browns of the wood, the gold of the metal, and even the harsh black of the coal. All laid down in their designated squares side by side. Trees were planted just behind them.  
A young girl not too different from her ran on the treadmill generating stores of electricity for the town and another girl stood at the workbench quickly shuffling puzzle pieces connected to a system preparing to build whatever the town needed at this moment. A town hall behind the Ministry of Labor. A rescue apparatus several feet away from the bus stop right next to the subway entrance she’d just come from. A medical building not far from the Ministry of Labor.  
The eyes of everyone glancing at her whenever they had a chance didn’t faze her one bit while she ran to the tool shed and looked through the tools.  
“Hello!”  
A clear, strong voice greeted her from behind.  
She turned and tilted her head up to look into the eyes of a girl just about five feet, three inches tall. Her eyes a piercing blue, her hair blonde, and her smile broad. She extended her hand.  
“My name is Nadya. I’m the overall lead worker here. You must be our new worker. What’s your name?”  
She gave a smile back and shook her hand. “I am 017.”  
“Happy to meet you, 017! Everyone here has a specific job and so do you. A pickaxe is your designated tool for the day. Until another island appears, you find a job around the town. Right now, we need electricity and food.” Nadya put up two fingers, one at a time, as she spoke.  
She nodded. “Thank you, Nadya. What is my night tool?”  
Nadya appeared confused for only a moment before her smile returned. “What do you mean? You’re a day worker, correct?”  
“I’m a worker. I work day and night.”  
Nadya attempted to discreetly take a deep breath as she thought.  
“When nighttime falls, ask our night lead.”  
She turned and left.  
017 looked around the town. She ran towards the trees and began shaking down the fruit, gathering them, and bringing them to their designated spot. No one else spoke to her but all eyes still took every chance they could to look at her. She noted one particular pair of eyes that looked at her not with wonder but with what appeared to be anger. When that girl went past her, they locked eyes for a moment.  
Anger? Disgust? Distrust? She couldn’t quite tell.  
Whatever it was, it wasn’t important. She knew how to be friendly but had no concept of friendship. If workers did not like her it made no difference as long as it didn’t interfere with work which at current, it wasn’t so she continued.  
She dropped a bunch of apples into their spot and felt a tap on her shoulder.  
She turned around.  
The angry worker was looking down at her with her brows furrowed.  
“What’s your name?”  
“017.”  
“...017? That’s your name?”  
“Yes.”  
The girl scoffed.  
“They didn’t even give you a proper name. Fitting in wasn’t exactly on the agenda, I guess? Adding your appearance to that guess, I can say yes.”  
017 looked around them. She did indeed appear different from the others but not all that much, in her opinion. Her height was the biggest difference. Her skin was the second.  
“What’s your name?” She asked.  
“It’s Katia. Humans don’t go by numbers.”  
“Hello, Katia. We should get back to work.” 017 said with a smile. This conversation was not going to be helpful to either of them.  
Katia shook her head. “I know what you are. We don’t need you. But I’ll tolerate you for now.” She turned and walked away.  
_What a pointless interaction._  
017 shrugged it off and continued working.

NADYA  
WORK BENCH

Her hands worked quickly, solving a sliding puzzle with bright red numbers on the tiles. Her mind more focused on her thoughts of the projection clone.  
It was beautiful. It looked just like her and her comrades. Sounded like them. She knew it would work just as hard as them. _It was made for work, after all! It will definitely be efficient!_  
She did, however, frown at herself for not knowing the answer to her question. As a leader, she needed to be prepared for anything and everything.  
Once she finished, a bell inside the machine beside the bench rang once and the conveyor belt started moving. From inside the machine, a pole with a white sign reading “DOMICILE” across it came sliding out along with a little red box. She picked them up off the belt and carried it to the few domiciles built in the town. She counted how many they had, noting the amount of townsfolk they had, and how close each one was. She picked a spot next to a little, round, grey one and stuck the sign into the ground and sat the box directly in front of it. She opened the box and stepped back.  
The ground rumbled and the roof of a domicile slowly rose up through the ground, followed by the rest of the building. The sign and box disappeared, replaced by the now finished building. A few townsfolk clapped and smiled. They hoped the making of a new domicile meant more people were being found. Nadya had faith more souls would come through and a decent amount of buildings would be needed to house the good people.  
The familiar ding of the bus arrival went through the town and she ran to the tool shed where her pickaxe rested. She grabbed it and ran just as fast to the bus to be one of the first ones on.  
She watched her comrades rush to join her with two staying behind to continue working for electricity.  
017 joined them and stood a few spots behind her. Directly beside her stood Sonya, her good friend. Coal dirtied her face and hands and the light crackle of electricity could be heard coming from her dress. Her eyes were focused on the television in front of them but her posture was limp. Tired.  
“Sonya! You’ve been working hard, it seems!”  
Sonya gasped, startled from her thoughts. She turned to Nadya with a weak smile.  
“Yeah. I’ve got a decent amount of electricity to the town.” She mumbled.  
Nadya frowned. “What’s wrong?”  
She sighed and rubbed her eyes. The bus moved suddenly and she yelped as she frantically reached for the hand grip, grabbing it just in time and pulled herself back to a standing position.  
“Be careful!” Nadya reached out and grabbed Sonya’s arm to help her steady.  
“I’m sorry! I didn’t expect that. I should’ve. I’m just tired. Didn’t sleep well at all last night.”  
“You say that a lot. You’ve got too many worries on your mind! Relax and be a bit more positive. You could benefit from it and you’ll probably sleep better!” She patted her shoulder as she spoke.  
“Maybe.” Sonya replied, looking back at the television as it’s program restarted.  
She looked outside and nodded approvingly at the island in the distance.  
“This one looks more promising! We will most definitely find more valuable resources here. People, too!”  
_A good haul will certainly raise spirits!_  
The bus came to a halt in front of the island.  
High up in the sky was an open book with a giant turnip coming out of the pages. A few more were there but only their tops could be seen. Several were on the ground each varying in size. A few smaller ones were suspended in midair, midfall. The island was completely frozen in place like all other islands.  
They all came off the bus and repeated what they’d done earlier. Everyone grabbed their tools and began working on the outside to reach the resources on the inside. Some comrades used their jetpacks to reach the top. Everyone moved swiftly as a perfect unit.  
As Nadya ran towards one of the larger ones on the ground, she heard someone calling for her.  
“Nadya! Hey!”  
She stopped and turned.  
One of the workers smiled at her, a jetpack in hand.  
“There’s so many resources on the higher levels. We need more hands to fully take advantage! Here, can you help?” She handed her the jetpack.  
Nadya grinned and nodded. She put on the jetpack and together they moved further back and began their flight up to the higher levels.  
The girl stopped on one of the turnips in midair while Nadya continued up to the top of the book. She landed on the spine and her eyes did a quick sweep of her surroundings. Coal, coal, more coal. A big, round, red box with a picture of a yellow star on top. She turned off the jetpack and began using her pickaxe on the coal around her before opening the box.  
Inside the box was another pickaxe, stronger than the one she had. She looked at her own and noticed the wear. It wouldn’t last much longer. She left it beside the box and took the new one. She peeked over the edge of the book and saw everyone working below. She pulled a little megaphone out the bottom of her bag.  
“ATTENTION! I WILL BE DROPPING RESOURCES FROM ABOVE. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE IMMEDIATE SURROUNDING AREA.” She announced.  
She watched some people hurry away from just below the main part of the island and continued working on the smaller parts. A few stayed where they were, either inside the main structure or inside the smaller structures. She ran around, picking up the coal and bringing it to the edge. Once it was all there, she started pushing and kicking coal over the edge. She looked down and saw it all landing around the same spot. Once finished, she went back down and joined everyone in moving it to the bus stop.  
While moving back and forth, she heard shouting. Nadya looked for the source.  
Three girls standing at the bus stop were pointing back towards their town and calling out to the other workers around.  
“Izverg! They’re descending on the town!”  
Nadya finished putting the resources at the bus stop and grabbed her megaphone.  
“THE IZVERG ARE ATTACKING! WE NEED AS MANY HANDS AS POSSIBLE BACK ON THE BUS AND AT THE TOWN! NOW!”  
She watched people scramble with a nod. Her comrades were quick, smart, and strong. They could do this!

SONYA  
TOWN

She stared out at the town as the bus drove towards it. She trembled slightly, unnoticed by the ones around her. She checked who was on the bus. Katia was there. Sonya. The clone. A few others.  
_I’m not alone. They’re with me. We can handle this._  
She repeated to herself those reminders and went back to staring. Retashi and two zappta.  
_It could be worse._  
They left the bus and immediately the battle begun.  
Sonya readied her pickaxe and charged a retashi. The shaking of her legs didn’t hinder her movement. The creature turned as it heard her.  
Two small wings kept its fat body an inch above the ground since its tiny pointed feet couldn’t keep it standing. Its hands were the same and just as useless. Short spikes covered its back with a small tail just below them. Its empty, white eyes just like the Bankrotz focused on Sonya’s face and it thrust forward, stabbing its needle towards her.  
Sonya quick stepped to the side and raised her pickaxe, bringing it down on its head. It squealed and tried stabbing again, no damage appearing on its body. She jumped back, very nearly getting hit in the shoulder with its needle. She ducked and swung her pickaxe from the side straight into the retashi. It cried out again, another squealing noise much like a pig, and ducked its head down. Its wings flattened out horizontally and it spun in a circle.  
Sonya screamed as its wing caught her arm. Blood rushed out and she fell to the ground.  
It stopped spinning and its eyes focused on her face once again.  
Her heart thumped. She grabbed the pickaxe again and with all her strength swung it across the retashi’s face before it could stab her. It cried and its body fell to the ground. It disappeared into dust and smoke like the islands did and replacing its body was a single chunk of crystal. One of the most precious resources.  
“SONYA, BEHIND YOU!”  
She swerved her head and nearly slashed her face on the needle of another retashi. She screamed.  
A chainsaw buzzed the side of the retashi and it flew back. Its attention turned to the worker wielding the chainsaw. Sonya crawled away, whimpering and bleeding. The sounds of battle around her. She reached the side of a building, clutching her arm. She took several deep breaths and wiped the tears from her eyes and stood back up, nearly losing her balance twice.  
_It could be worse._  
She decided fighting wasn’t going to work. She picked a burning building and sprinted across the town to join a comrade in stopping the fires on the domiciles. An explosion happened nearby and pieces of a domicile went flying throughout the town. A woman screamed.  
Sonya tried to focus on the task at hand. A zappta went past the building she was trying to save. It went straight for the Ministry of Labor building.  
“Oh no!” She wailed.  
Sonya couldn’t be in two places at once. She had no weapon.  
The giant, armored spider with long, sharp madibles flattened itself on the ground, preparing to pounce the building. Sonya turned away.  
A shotgun went off. Then again. She turned and saw the projection clone firing at the zappta, destroying it right before it could jump on the building.  
Within the next few minutes, the last of the retashi were killed, a few left behind crystal. The zappta were killed. Several of the buildings were saved. A few burned to the ground.  
Nadya rushed around directing frantic people on what to do, herded the townspeople towards the Rescue Apparatus where little damage was done, and passed resources where she could.  
Sonya collapsed to the ground and called out for help. She couldn’t walk herself to the medical building. It hadn’t been destroyed but it was too far for her.  
A worker rushed to her side.  
The projection clone.  
Sonya moved her hand from the bloody wound in her arm. She breathed heavily and her body trembled. The wound was deeper than she’d realized.  
The clone smiled at her, unfazed. It took off its bag and began rummaging through it. It had wrapping, cloth, disinfectant, and other medical supplies in its bag.  
“This will hurt but I’ll do my best to make it quick.” The clone said calmly.  
She had imagined they would be more metallic. Robotic. The clone -- the girl -- in front of her appeared lifelike. A voice that sounded like any other young worker. Unique yet generic. Her skin looked like hers only the texture up close looked like smoothed out paste. When her hands grabbed Sonya’s arm and started moving the fabric, she winced and sucked in a breath. She also noted how soft her hands were.  
“What’s your name?” The clone asked.  
“...Sonya.” She replied quietly.  
The clone started to clean her wound. Sonya yelped and jerked her arm. The clone tightened her grip on Sonya’s arm only slightly.  
“How long have you been working here? Talk with me.”  
Sonya took a look around before responding. No one else appeared to be too injured. A few people ran with bandages on their arms or walked with a limp but otherwise there was no blood still running and no one on the ground crying.  
She took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice steady.  
“I… I moved here not long ago. I was in another--” She winced. “-- town.”  
“What happened to that town?”  
“It was destroyed.” She said flatly.  
“Who are your friends here?”  
“Katia, Darya… OW!”  
“I just need to wrap it now.”  
They sat quietly while she finished.  
“You need stitches. I did the second best option for now. Go to the medical tent as soon as you’re able.” She took an apple out of her bag and handed it to her.  
Sonya took the apple. “Thank you.”  
The clone packed up her bag and started to leave.  
“Wait.” Sonya said.  
She stopped.  
“What’s your name?”  
The clone smiled again. “I am 017.”  
“I mean your name. Not your… Production number.” She couldn’t find the correct term at the moment and that seemed close.  
017 stood there, confused.  
“Don’t you have one?”  
She shook her head. “If it’s more comfortable for you to call me something else, you can.”  
Sonya sat for a moment thinking.  
“Tell me when you’re better.” 017 said, waving as she turned and left.

KATIA  
WORKERS COMMON ROOM

She splashed grey water on her face and took deep breaths. The few bruises she had on her body ached but she did her best to ignore it. Katia let her hair out and stared at herself in the mirror.  
A mess. That’s what she was. She knew this but had no strong desire to change it. She didn’t have the strength to even if there was desire. She saw no point. Her actions spoke louder than her looks anyway.  
She left the bathroom and sat in the workers common room. The night workers were fixing themselves up to head out. She smiled and made some small talk with her friends.  
Sonya came out of the rest area and sat down near her.  
“Can’t sleep?”  
“Not yet.” She replied. “Not until everyone leaves and its quieter.”  
Katia looked at her arm and lightly touched it.  
“A retashi?”  
Sonya nodded.  
“I didn’t see you in the medical tent. I was there earlier helping out some of the girls. Did you bandage it yourself?”  
She shook her head with a smile.  
“No, 017 did. She was very gentle and did it quickly. I got stitches shortly afterwards but you weren’t in the tent yet.”  
Katia raised her eyebrows. “The clone did this? I didn’t know it was trained in medical as well.”  
“I think she knows a lot. She seems friendly. It’s nice to have a fresh face around. Maybe she can help us out in ways the government is failing us.” Sonya said the last bit quietly.  
She laughed. “It IS the government. Just another scheme. It’s probably here to watch us and snitch on whoever it thinks isn’t doing enough or isn’t doing things exactly right. It’s probably going to put us in a false sense of security then take all our secrets to the big man.”  
Sonya didn’t say anything.  
She shrugged. “That’s how I see it. I wouldn’t get too close to it.”  
The night workers started to head out.  
“She looks like us. Sounds like us. Feels like us. Maybe we should just treat her like one of us until she gives us a reason not to. I don’t think immediately brushing her off will do anything for us. If she’s here as a tool of the government she’ll do her job one way or another. Right now, she’s just another worker. I don’t want to fight within the team. We need each other.” Sonya sighed and stood up. “I’m going to head to bed now. Come on and sleep.”  
Katia followed her and went over to her bed. It was directly above Dina’s and she was already asleep so Katia moved as quietly as she could.  
Sonya wasn’t entirely wrong but it still didn’t sit right with her. She sat in her thoughts for a short while before drifting off to sleep.  
In her dreams, she wore a light blue dress and danced barefoot on green. The green was soft like hair. Her own hair was out and flowing and long. No knots or tangles. She laughed as she danced and she looked up. The sky was blue like her dress. An empty blue. She heard laughter around her and soon her friends appeared alongside people she didn’t recognize and they all danced together. After a while, they all sat down on the soft green and ate apples and things that looked and felt like apples but were different colors. Purples and oranges and yellows. They all tasted like apples. A friend braided her hair and everything smelled lovely. She turned to her friend once the braid was finished and kissed her cheek. She looked up at the empty blue sky and squinted. She searched the sky for something. Anything. Nothing appeared. She didn’t mind that. She stood up and started walking away.  
There was nothing but blue and green. She couldn’t find anything.  
“Maybe…” She thought aloud, “I can build something.”  
She looked at her hands and took a deep breath.  
“RISE, COMRADES! IT IS A NEW DAY!”  
Katia was suddenly awake and alert.  
_I will rise and fight Nadya on this new day._ She thought bitterly.  
She left her bed after Dina and they went together to shower along with several other workers. Once showered and dressed, they had their breakfast. A bowl of brown soup. It was thick enough to be food but thin enough to be liquid.  
Nadya called that ‘balanced’.  
She called it ‘disgusting’ and ‘cheap’.  
The government called it ‘balanced’.  
She looked around to see who was up. Nadya, of course. Dina. Anna. Darya. Sonya.  
The clone was missing. The night workers had gone to bed once everyone else got up but the clone wasn’t with them.  
Breakfast was done fairly quickly and the day began.  
For the first time in a little while, no islands showed. Everyone kept busy within the town by generating electricity, making repairs, and finding random odd jobs.  
Katia turned the corner near a domicile while searching for a specific townsperson and walked right in to Nadya.  
“Ouch!”  
“Watch it!”  
Nadya rubbed her head and sighed. “Seriously, be careful!”  
“It was an accident, calm down!” She started to walk around her.  
“Wait, it’s good you’re here. I needed to talk with you.”  
Internally, Katia was rolling her eyes.  
“About what?” She turned back around to face Nadya.  
“Katia… I know you don’t exactly like your job but I think you seriously need to tone down your anti-government speech.” She said quietly.  
“Why? Are you going to report me?”  
“I’d rather not but if I have to, I will. I just don’t want our comrades riled up. We’ve got a new addition and everyone has different feelings about it and I don’t want you to start creating sides because it can turn into a giant mess.”  
Katia shook her head and started to walk away.  
“Hey! I’m talking to you!” Nadya started after her.  
“There’s always been sides. Our side and the government. I’m not going to lower my voice any more than it already is. I have to constantly watch my words so I don’t get tossed in a cell. But I won’t censor myself entirely. Let people have their own opinions on the matter.” Katia said over her shoulder.  
“No, we can’t have that! We need everyone to work together!”  
“We can work together and still have different opinions.”  
“Katia, I--”  
The bus ding-ed.  
“Great! An island!” Katia abandoned her mission on finding the person for the time being and hurried off, leaving Nadya behind.


End file.
